I love the AMSC story……….however, reality has to come into play somewhere when reality kicks in and investment managers are looking to make investments into green energy players…………..AMSC is on a roll and is DEFINETLY HEADED UP but how far????

a P/e of 207 vs APWR p/e of 8 ?????????? U decide which is better………

ABB said to be eyeing American Superconductor

* GE, other ABB rivals may be potential suitors too

* Booming China wind market to drive deals

By Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay and Bijoy Koyitty

BANGALORE, Oct 12 (Reuters) – The allure of a bigger share of the fast-growing wind power market might force larger engineering companies to target American Superconductor Corp (AMSC.O), a maker of electrical systems that run wind farms and turbines.

Shares of American Superconductor, which also offers smart grid infrastructure technologies, closed up more than 6 percent Friday on chatter that Swiss engineering group ABB Ltd (ABBN.VX) could be in talks with the Devens, Massachusetts-based company.

“I think it (the deal) is a possibility,” analyst Pavel Molchanov of Raymond James said.

ABB is a large player in electrical engineering, including power grids, and so it could be a potential buyer for American Superconductor as it would add to its portfolio, Molchanov added.

Analysts said General Electric Co (GE.N), Siemens (SIEGn.DE) or any other competitor of ABB could be a potential suitor for American Superconductor, whose key customer is China’s Sinovel Wind.

“We never comment on rumors,” said Jason Fredette, American Superconductor’s director of investor and media relations. “We do not talk about M&A activities or anything along those lines.”

ABB spokesman Thomas Schmidt also refused to comment on what he called “market rumours.” The company, which also competes with France’s Areva (CEPFi.PA), had earlier said it was looking for “bolt-on” acquisitions.

Molchanov said American Superconductor is an expensive stock and an acquisition of the company would be dilutive to the purchaser, at least initially, but the long-term benefit in terms of new products and R&D would outweigh the cost.

Shares of American Superconductor trade at a whopping 207 times their forward earnings, compared with the electrical components and equipment sector, which trades at a multiple of 30 times. American Superconductor, which draws about 70 percent of its revenue from Sinovel Wind, beat the tide of recession, helped by the strong wind energy market in China.

While some analysts said a possible deal would not have any impact on Sinovel, others said China’s largest wind turbine maker might have to renegotiate its major contracts with American Superconductor.

The company’s overall revenue for the fiscal year ended March 2009 was about $183 million.

Shares of the company have risen by 157 percent in the past year,

the reason I am invested 100% inside China is below…….

Overall vehicle sales totaled 1.33 million units, while passenger car sales climbed 84 percent to 1.02 million units, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers reported.

Total sales for the first nine months of the year rose to 9.66 million units, up 34 percent from a year earlier, it said.

September was the seventh month that China’s auto sales, boosted by tax cuts and subsidies as part of Beijing’s stimulus, exceeded 1.1 million units. Sales in smaller cities have been booming as automakers rush to woo first-time car buyers with new models,

China leads the world in total 2009 sales, with the U.S. in second place with January-September sales at about 7.85 million units. U.S. sales plunged 41 percent from a year earlier in September to 746,000, following a summer buying spree driven by big discounts to consumers.

Given the weakness in other major markets, global automakers are looking to China to drive revenues amid sluggish demand elsewhere.

General Motors saw total sales for January-September surge 55 percent to nearly 1.3 million vehicles. Ford Motor Co. said sales rose 32 percent in the first nine months of the year to 316,639 units, with sales in September jumping nearly 80 percent from the year before.

Other foreign automakers have reported similar, hefty double-digit sales growth.

China, with 1.3 billion people, has long been expected to overtake the United States as the biggest vehicle market. But the U.S. economic slump hastened that shift by depressing American sales while China surged ahead.

“The China market we expect to surpass the U.S. market in size for both the right and the wrong reasons,” General Motors Co.’s CEO Fritz Henderson told reporters in Shanghai on Tuesday.

Henderson predicted a “very modest recovery” in 2010 for the U.S. market.

Vestas has hit a pot hole in the road to riches and valuation of their stock is under pressure in the current markets and probably well deserved given the world and changes underway in the world. Vestas is building three new big wind turbine plants in United States and the USA is slow to get thier big wind plans together due to the NIMBYS and the financing current problems in driving big wind projects. Also, Vestas is building four big new plants inside China and China is not going to relax their 70% protectionism status on foreign wind players. Vestas has alot of money going out and not enough money coming in to pay for this massive cap ex program of “”Build it and they will come”” wind program.

China could become the achilles heel problem of Vestas as the PRC of China is not bending on the 70% protectionism programs to use Chinese wind producers and Chinese jobs and components for the wind turbines. The size of the market share in China is growing by the day but alot of new upcoming Chinese companies are going to be ramping up wind production inside China taking future Vestas wind contracts.

Another major problem for Vestas is the V-90 3MW wind turbine which is failing in stress tests and the offshore wind farms Vestas have installed the 3.0mw wind turbine have had problems. Being that the wind turbines off shore create massive repair issues, Vestas is struggling currently and the 3.0mw might become another achilles heel injury for Vestas in a long history of success bringing new products to market.

Suzlon is in alot of countries and is definetly moving up but even with improved production and more investments, 6000 Wind Turbines a year will not solve the worlds needs and especially India and China………..one thing I like about Suzlon is they build and operate some of their own wind farms and so they capitalize on the increasing price for wind power a utility can achieve………….

also was told by Tulsi Tanti, chairman and managing director of the Pune (India)-based energy company, that the U.S. is a good place to build wind generators. The devices, made largely of steel, are simply too heavy to be worth shipping from low-wage countries. They’re also custom-made. But that is changing, he said. And I think that, in turn, could eventually shift production from the U.S. to China or India.

Suzlon, which ranks three in wind-power turbines, is now selling its gear boxes to other producers, with the aim of standardizing components, the way auto parts like batteries and tires are standard. If Suzlon succeeds, it could boost its output of gear boxes, lower costs and—though he didn’t explicitly state this—centralize production. Other parts might be standardized, too. Once that happens, manufacturers could ship components rather than build a wind-power generator from scratch in each market.

Pay attention, policy makers.

Suzlon claims 12.3% of the wind turbine market globally, with operations in 21 countries and on every continent. Its largest markets by volume are the U.S. and China; by market share, they’re India, Brazil, and Australia, where Suzlon has more than half the market. Tanti predicted the company will build 5,000 to 6,000 turbines in 2010, up from 4,000 in 2008 and 2009.

BEIJING (Reuters) – The United States and China are likely to sign a new bilateral agreement to combat climate change during President Barack Obama’s visit to Beijing in November, Washington senator Maria Cantwell said on Friday.

Cantwell, who is in Beijing to discuss clean energy and intellectual property issues with Chinese officials, said a deal between the world’s two biggest CO2 polluters would also help build global confidence in the efforts to curb global warming.

“If you are producing 40 percent of emissions — which is what China and the United States are together — what a legacy, and what a great relationship you could create by saying that’s what these two great countries stepped up to do,” she told reporters at a briefing.

Obama is due to visit China in November, with climate change set to top the agenda along with the global economy and North Korea.

A month later, leaders gather in the Danish capital of Copenhagen to thrash out the details of a new global climate change compact, but Cantwell said a wide-ranging bilateral agreement between China and the United States would be easier to achieve.

“I’d place higher odds on the ability of the United States and China to reach an agreement than I would on us passing legislation or on having Copenhagen agreed,” she told reporters in a briefing.

She also said there was a “50-50 chance” that the U.S. Clean Energy and Security Act, also known as the Waxman-Markey bill, would be passed by the end of the year, but said the legislation needed to be “streamlined” and simplified.

China is concerned that the bill, which has already been passed by the lower house of Congress, will give future U.S. administrations the authority to levy “carbon tariffs” on countries deemed not to have made equivalent efforts to reduce their greenhouse gases.

Cantwell said she was opposed to tariffs, but said however the final bill looked, the crucial part would be “putting a price on carbon” in a way that would create massive economic opportunities for both China and the United States.

She also said she thought China had underestimated the resolve of the United States to “make the transition” to a low-carbon economy.

China and the United States are already cooperating in the development of new technologies like carbon capture and “smart” power grid systems, and a wider deal could include pledges to reduce tariffs on clean-energy related goods and services, as well as technology transfers.

Cantwell said she will meet with China’s top climate change official, National Development and Reform Commission vice-chairman Xie Zhenhua, on Friday afternoon.

its simply amazing I cover the company Mr Obama is going to visit………for those NOT owning APWR, well, better think again, this Twitter Maniac might provide some interesting returns over time as this story plays out…………

From the APWR WEBSITE:”::

U.S. president Mr. Obama will visit China in Mid Nov. and during this visit he will hold talks with chairman of China Mr. Hu Jintao. As the biggest wind power equipments manufacturing base under production in China, A-Power ‘s Shenyang Wind Power Base is now stepping up its wind turbines production and assembly, intensifying its efforts in plant environment optimization and transformation, improving the plant appearance, in order to welcome President Obama’s visit of China with a brand-new look.

as the news breaks across the world at record electronic pace of PRESIDENT OBMAMA visiting China to discuss CLIMATE and GLOBAL COOPERATION on wind power, some might want to research the venue China is providing for the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES to meet the PRC Chairman for Global summit BEFORE the Copenhagan meeting as CHINA is going to unveil its flanking manuever and annouce more WIND POWER than the world can imagine………who is ”’Shenyang Lucky Wind Equipment Company””??????

I feel HONORED to be the ONLY BLOGGER in WORLD covering the Lucky Shenyang Wind Equipment Company………..

YES FOLKS, I cannot make this stuff up……..

Mr Lu, President Hu & President Obama…nice company 2 minutes ago Ski, its amazing how these Naysayers won’t come to grips w/reality that Apwr is tightly intergrated and woven into the PRC’s Renewable Energy Strategy fabric – and the two most powerful leaders on the Planet, meeting at our Wind Factory in November????….solidfies everything we’ve been pointing out over the past several months now…good times ahead!

Rock

==================================

Greg BINGO ! You are right on the mark my friend and me Ski, Greich, Bus, Jan, Frankie and others have been saying for the past year or so that it’s ALL about the PRC Govt and how deeply Mr Lu’s roots are set and how much Govt support we will see moving forward – an Entrepreneur just doesn’t pop up over night in China, they are cultivated and usually have strong ties to the Govt in order to be successful and China KNOWs Renewable Energy is not just a flash in the pan but a way of life for the next Century plus – and this is not simply for their country but will be a way of life for the entire PLANET – and if you can control the manufacturing end you will be GOLDEN during the long trip ahead (see Cisco’s, IBMs, Apple’s etc)

….So lets think about it for a moment, Furhlander has one of the largest Turbines manufactured to date, GE makes the Cadillac of Gearboxes, Evatech has the curtain wall technology and contacts and the Alliance was built to handle large scale DG and Power Plant projects all ACROSS all of ASIA and BEYOND with 7 of the largest blower and mechanical engineering companies in Shenyang if not all of China. (and Mr Lu is the CEO of this Alliance ..why???, Apwr’s the smallest in the bunch ??…why ? ’cause BOTH the Local and Central Govt “wants” it that way based on his “vision”…think people think.), so its obvious then that the PRC is setting up Apwr-like companies for SUCCESS not failure as their stories unfolds.

….and why else would China impose a 70% local mandate rule and high tariff for import Turbines less than 2.5mw and enforce it so TIGHT that the Gamesas’ and Vestas of the world are crying on every journalists shoulder who cares to listen how their being snuffed out of all large, lucrative contracts across China ??

….and why else would GE partner with Apwr, a small company yet to be proven??…since they KNOW they have the backing of the Govt for future lucrative deals in just about ANY capacity when it comes to Renewable energy.

….It’s All About the FUTURE folks and not why a few Turbines havent been planted in the ground as of yet but the bigger picture that many Naysayers on this Board can’t see or fail to realize – and at $10 bucks????..imho still at IPO pricing ’cause 3-4yrs down the road in my opinion we’re easily passing $100 based on how many irons are in the fire -the Street wants Apwr to PROVE it can be successful and when you have the Govt and the World’s 2nd Largest Company behind you, I’m confident that they will succeed.

….excellent job Greg for provoking some good thought and if people see the big picture just like Mr Lu, the PRC, GE, and all the JV partners can see it we’re headed for some really exciting times ahead.

Stay the course..

Rock

Vestas is down from $28 earlier this summer and this article could explain why………

The Danish wind turbine manufacturer says it is ready for a comeback in the competition for sales of offshore turbines where German Siemens has taken the lead, daily paper Berlingske Tidende said.

Problems with Vestas’ V90 turbine’s gears have hampered the company’s ability to compete. ‘We took a pause when we withdrew the V90, and that hurt us enough to stay outside the market. But now we are on the way back,’ Anders Soe Jensen, director of Vestas Offshore, told the newspaper.

China has a 70% wind turbine domestic strategy where 70% of that 400 billion in green energy MUST be spent on a domestic supplier of wind turbines. Acconia was the first of many coming casualties and the domestic market of China is the only way that China will ramp sales and produce Chinese jobs for China markets.

Spanish engineering firm Acciona has sold its 45 per cent stake in a China wind turbine plant, due to disagreements over the future direction of the facility ahead of an expected industry shake-out.

Part of the shareholding was acquired by Acciona’s existing partner in the manufacturing venture, China Energine Industry (CEI). The company – a listed subsidiary of state-owned China Aerospace Science & Technology Corporation – took a five per cent stake, raising its holding in the operation to 50 per cent.

The rest of Acconia’s stake was acquired by Hong Kong-based engineering company Chook Bo Group, which took a 40 per cent holding. The remaining 10 per cent of the operation continues to be held by Inceisa, a Spanish-Chinese joint venture that promotes economic activities between Spain and China.

Acciona told Europa Press news agency last week that the move was prompted by differences on strategy with its Chinese partner and a China market that is primarily focused on developing domestic companies.

Acciona did not disclose the sale price. However, CEI, in an announcement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last month, said that it had paid 2.76m yuan ($400,000) for the five per cent shareholding, putting the potential total cost of Acciona’s 45 per cent stake at about $3.6m (£2.3m).

The plant, located in the industrial city of Nantong in eastern Jiangsu Province, was established at a cost of $31m in 2006. At the time, Acciona claimed that it was China’s largest wind turbine manufacturing facility and the first to be part-owned by a Spanish company.

CEI said in the stock exchange disclosure that the joint venture, Nantong Acciona, “suffered from intense competition in the domestic wind turbine market and sluggish progress made on [the] domestic production of wind turbine[s]“.

CEI added that it will now conduct independent research and development to produce wind turbines using its own technology.

Acciona’s action comes as China’s wind turbine industry is expected to consolidate. Fewer than 10 out of more than 100 manufacturers are likely to survive, according to Hu Yueming, chairman of Nanjing-based China High Speed Transmission Equipment Group, a company that supplies transmission gears to about 13 turbine makers, which collectively account for 98 per cent of China’s market supply.